Anything but Normal
by kapers in pink
Summary: Bella and Edward meet in the typical college fashion; at a party. But their relationship is anything but typical. Can they get over their own fears and let fate take over? bXe, aXj, rXem. AH, AU. Rated T for now, but it will most likely change
1. The Beginning of The End

**AN**: Okay, so this is my first attempt at Twilight, as well as my first attempt at a multi-chaptered story. Standard disclaimers apply (I'm not Stephenie Meyer, I don't own anything, etc. etc. etc.).

Everyone is human (I know… but I don't think I can do vampire Edward justice…), and I'm trying to stay as much in character as I can.

With that said, enjoy! (and let me know what you think)

(BPOV)

"Alice, no. No way."

"Come on Bella, please?" She was laying it on thick, batting her eyelashes over her large doe eyes.

I sighed.

It was a Friday night, the first weekend of our first year of college. And Alice was dying to go to a party she had heard about during one of her classes.

"Alice, I have so much homework already." It wasn't a lie… I had a paper due next Wednesday, and three "introduce yourself" note cards to complete by Monday. She didn't need to know that those tasks would really only take me an hour or so.

"No one has that much during their first week of classes." She protested.

"Besides, that's what Sundays are for. Duh." She explained, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Al, you know I hate parties. Besides, Jake is supposed to call me tonight." At this, she made a muffled 'humph' noise, placing her hands on her hips. Obviously my Jake excuse wasn't going to fly. Damn.

"Please B, for me. I can't go to a party by myself. I'll look like a loser." She whined.

I sighed.

I was such a pushover, and she knew it. She knew I was going to crack.

"Where is this party at?" I asked, realizing my mistake at once. Alice smiled, her perfect white teeth glistening.

"It's down at one of the frat houses."

Frat houses? This school has fraternities? Interesting. Leave it to Alice to find them.

"And how are we supposed to get in? I thought freshman didn't normally get invited to those parties."

"That is exactly why we have to go! And besides, Emmett lives in the house where it's being held at, so we have an automatic in."

Shit. I had forgotten all about Emmett. I sighed again. There really was no way I was going to get out of this.

"Fine. But I'm not going until I talk to Jake, and I get the final say in my wardrobe."

Alice's smile faltered a little, which made me smile. If there was one thing Alice loved more then parties, it was dressing up for them. Her third favorite thing was playing "Bella Barbie", and dressing me up in ridiculous outfits that I would never wear on my own free will.

"Fine. But he better be calling soon. I want to get there before all the good guys are taken.

As if on cue, the phone rang, causing us both to jump. I smiled as I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey beautiful," a deep husky voice said over the line. "How was your first week?"

"Hey Jake. It was all right. Not as exciting as I was hoping it would be, but my classes are interesting so far."

"Well, it is college, which means more school. I'm still not sure why you picked one so far away though."

I sighed. I was doing that a lot tonight.

Jake and I have had this conversation a million times. He was upset over my choice of schools, mainly because it was so far away from home. I tried to explain to him that I needed to get away from Forks, see what else was out there, but he seemed to think that everything I needed was there with him. I hated telling him that I was miserable in Forks, no matter how good the company was.

"Babe, we've had this talk." I said, not really wanting to have it again.

"I know I'm just hoping you'll change your mind."

"You could always come down here you know." We'd had this conversation a thousand times too. He would ask me to come back; I would ask him to move with me. We were both stubborn enough not to give in. His excuse, however, was better then mine.

"You know I can't do that Isa. I have to take care of Billy. And Charlie now too, since you are so far away."

I felt a twinge of guilt, for leaving Charlie to fend for himself.

"That's not fair Jake. And you know I hate it when you call me Isa."

He laughed.

"Sorry. I just think it's cute." I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was shrugging. I rolled my eyes.

"So how was your day?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation in a less awkward direction.

"It was great! I got the last of the parts for that new car I'm working on. I should have it running by next week."

Great. Car talk. Not exactly what I wanted to discuss.

"That's great." I tried to sound enthusiastic. Apparently I did a good job, which was rare for someone who couldn't lie to save her life. Before I could say anything else, a high-pitched voice broke out over the line.

"Bella... come on. It's already 8:00. We need to start getting ready."

"Alice, I'm on the phone."

"I know. I need you to get off now." She said impatiently. "Sorry Jake." She said with a laugh, hanging up the phone.

"I'm sorry too." I said quietly, hoping he wasn't going to get upset.

"What are you getting ready to do?" He asked with suspicion in his voice.

"Alice wants me to go to this party with her. A frat party, apparently, that not many freshmen get invited to, and she's guilt tripped me into going."

"A frat party? Are you serious Bella?"

I sat in silence, confused as to why he sounded so angry.

"Yes, a frat party. At Emmett's frat house. You remember Emmett right, my cousin?" Great. Now I was angry too.

"I don't care whose frat house it is. That's a dumb idea for you to go to a party like that. You know what they do to girls at those parties. I know you're not that naive."

"Jacob, I really have no idea why you're this angry. It's Emmett. You think he'd let anything happen to me? And besides, I'm old enough to make my own decisions, and I'm deciding to go to this party. End of story." I almost slammed the phone down, but I knew that would only make things worse.

"Whatever Bella. Why don't you just call me in the morning."

"Fine. Bye Jake."

"Bells, wait."

"Yes?"

I was getting annoyed at this conversation. It seems that ever since I moved away for college, Jake had been acting weird. Everything had been perfect up until graduation. Being with Jake was easy; like breathing. Maybe that was the problem.

"Be safe. I love you."

I let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'll be fine Jake. Love you too." I said quietly, before hanging up the phone.

"Alice!" I yelled. I hoped this party was good, because I certainly felt like I needed a drink.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

(EPOV)

The loud noise that was coming from downstairs was really starting to get on my nerves. Every five minutes or so, a loud crash would ring through the house, followed by a string of profanities. If I had known that this is what fraternity life was going to be like three years ago, I never would have let Emmett convince me to pledge.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and my index finger.

"Yo Ed! Get your scrawny ass downstairs!" A loud voice yelled from outside my door. "Or I'm going to break through this door and drag you down there myself." The voice was followed by a series of bangs, each one more forceful then the previous.

"Calm down Emmett." I got up to open the door, coming face to face with a very annoyed Emmett.

"What's the problem?" I glanced over to my laptop, nodding to the paper that was half written. "I'm kind of busy."

"It's 8:30. The girls are going to be here any minute."

"Girls? What girls?" I had no idea we had specially invited guests to this party.

It was a tradition, at Southern Oregon, for all the fraternities and sororities to hold a series of parties during the first month of school. As per tradition, our house always hosted the first kegger of the new school year. It was annoying, but it was tradition.

"My cousin and her roommate; they're both freshman, so I figured I'd give them a little bit of an upper hand on the social ladder."

"Freshman huh? That'll be interesting. I wasn't aware that we even invited freshman to this party."

"Normally we don't, but seeing as she's family…" He trailed off. "Besides, her roommate is pretty hot, so I figured why not."

I smiled. That sounded more like the Emmett that I knew.

"I knew you had another reason other then her being family." Emmett just shrugged.

"Come on, stop being such a stick in the mud and come down to help us get set up. Jazz has been setting up the beer pong table, and Ben and Laurent are putting the kegs in the basement. James just finished hanging the lights around the pool, so hopefully that'll attract the hot girls to do a little late night swimming."

"And what exactly do you need my help with then? Sounds like you boys have everything under control." I really just wanted to finish my paper.

"We need you to delegate, like you always do."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose again. This was not what I signed up for.

"Edward, it's your last year in college, enjoy it while you can." He said, patting me on the back. "Besides, this is the last time you'll ever have to host this party."

"Yeah, but there will be other parties. You know that, I know that, so stop trying to butter me up." As hard as I tried not to, I smiled anyway. He had a point. It _was_ my senior year, and it _was_ the last time I'd ever have to host this stupid "welcome back" party.

Taking one last glance at my unfinished paper, I closed my door, following Emmett down the stairs and into the living room.


	2. I Caught Myself

(EPOV)

A few people had already started to gather in the living room, spreading themselves around on the couches and leaning up against walls.

"Hey Ed." A quiet voice whispered in my ear. I felt a small hand wrap itself around my waist, grazing swiftly over the front of my jeans. A slender girl soon crossed into my line of vision, her strawberry blond hair bouncing around her shoulders.

"Hey Tanya."

"Some party." She said with a smile, glancing around the room.

"And it hasn't even started yet." I said sarcastically, draping my arm around her shoulder.

"I hear Emmett has invited some freshman." She said, distaste evident in her voice.

"You're just jealous because you had to wait until you were a junior to get invited to this party."

She only shrugged. "Besides, he said it's his cousin and her roommate, so I doubt you have anything to worry about."

"Whatever" she said callously, walking away from me. Shrugging my shoulders, I grabbed a cup off the counter and headed down to the basement.

"Nice of you to join us Eddie." A voice called to me as I walked down the stairs.

"Yeah, I figured I could make an appearance. What's up Jazz?" Everyone seemed so shocked that I had come downstairs. Was I the only one who ever studied around here?

"Just enjoying the view." He said, nodding at a table of girls across the room.

"Eh." I shrugged. "It could be better."

"You're right. The view is about to become a hell of a lot better." Jasper said with a grin, moving from his spot next to the table.

Moving my head to follow his gaze up the stairs, my eyes finally found what he was staring at. Walking down the stairs was quite possibly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life. And I had seen a lot of beautiful girls over the course of my four years at Southern.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Jasper said, nudging me with his elbow.

I was. And so was every guy in the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(BPOV)

A half an hour after my disastrous phone call with Jake, I was standing in front of the mirror, shock all over my face. Why had I let Alice talk me into this?

"Alice, you can't be serious. I'm not wearing this." I started to protest. She silenced me with a fierce glare.

"You can, and you are. You look amazing Bells, stop worrying." She scolded me, putting the finishing touches on my hair and makeup. "There, done!" She exclaimed, stepping back to appraise her work.

"Why do I let you do this to me?"

"Because you love me silly." She said confidently. "Now hurry up. It's almost 8:30." She quickly walked back into her room to finish up her look for the evening. Looking back to the mirror, I groaned.

Alice was right. I did love her, and that was the only reason I let her get away with this. The girl drives me crazy, but she was the best friend I had ever had. We had met during one of my childhood summers in Forks with Charlie, becoming instant friends.

When Renee got remarried two years ago, Alice was beyond ecstatic that I would be moving in with my dad. Before I had even gotten there, she had all of my extra curricular activities planned for the remaining of my junior year, as well as my senior year. That was just the type of person she was; and it was hard not to smile around her.

Taking one last look at the mirror, I adjusted the brown hair that was hanging in soft waves around my shoulders. Not my hairstyle of choice, but I had to admit that it didn't look half bad. The outfit, however, caused my breathing to quicken and my heartbeat to race.

Alice had chosen a pair of skin tight light jeans with strategically placed holes for me to wear, insisting that I would be more comfortable in them then the skirt she had originally picked. The lesser of two evils is what I called it. The shirt she had put me in could hardly be defined as a shirt. The back was open, showing off my pale skin. The front, a little more modest, scooped almost too low for my taste.

"Bells, come on. We need to go. Take a deep breath, and don't be nervous. I do good work." Alice said, winking as she took my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom.

"How are we getting there?" I asked, glancing at her yellow Porsche in the driveway. Her parents had given it to her as a graduation present. My dad had given me Billy Blacks old Chevy pickup truck.

"We're walking, of course. It's only a few blocks away."

Well, at least we wouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves, although Alice always got attention everywhere she went.

I glanced over at my best friend, feeling slightly jealous of how at ease she was with the situation. Alice loved being in the spotlight, enjoying any and all things fashion. Her short, spiky hair was always fashioned in the latest style. Her skin was pale, but not sickly like mine. At 4'11", she was the shortest person I knew, but she made up for it with attitude and spunk. I had never met a person who didn't like Alice.

"How are you not nervous?" I asked out loud, already knowing the answer.

"Easy Bella; I know how good we look, and I know that all eyes will be on us. Besides, Emmett will be there, so relax."

"That's what I'm afraid of." I hated being the center of attention. Maybe that's why Alice and I got along so well; I was more then happy to give up my share of the spotlight.

The late summer air felt almost cold on my skin, although I didn't need a jacket. Looking around at the neighborhood as we walked, I knew I didn't regret the decision that brought me to this school.

"I really do love it here Alice." I said, linking my arm in hers. "This is a really beautiful city."

She wrinkled her nose before smiling.

"The mall could be a little bigger, but so far that's my only complaint." She said with a laugh. I couldn't help but laugh with her.

As we walked, I could hear the light thumping of music from a distance, getting closer as we went down the street.

I started fidgeting with my hair as we got closer, noticing more cars parked along the street. I tried to slow down, but Alice kept me at a quick pace.

"Come on Bella, the sooner we make our grand entrance, the sooner you can calm down!" She said, pulling me up the sidewalk of a large house. "And stop messing up your hair!"

I barely had time to register the outside appearance of the house before she dragged me in through the front door.

I glanced around the dimly lit room, my mind still on the argument I had with Jake. It was ridiculous, really, that he was upset that I was coming to this party. Did he really expect me to just sit around by myself, all alone while the rest of the student body went to parties and had fun? And besides, it's not like anything was going to happen to me. Emmett was here, and that was more then enough protection for me.

"Bella, isn't this amazing?" Alice said, grabbing my arm and pulling me deeper into the room.

"Sure Al… It's a dark room full of people we don't know. Absolutely amazing." I answered sarcastically.

"No need for the attitude B. Just have fun. Worry about Jake later." She said with a smile.

Alice had never really gotten along with Jake; she thought he was holding me back. I was beginning to wonder now if she had been right.

"Okay. No more attitude." I mumbled in apology.

"Good. Now let's make our way downstairs. They've gotta be hiding all the cute boys somewhere around here. And we have yet to see your darling cousin."

I let her pull me down the stairs as I glanced around the room, looking for Emmett.

That's when I noticed them. Well, him, really. They were both tall and muscular, and one had blond hair with dark blue eyes. He didn't hold my attention though. The guy standing next to him could put Apollo to shame. He had messy bronze hair that fell perfectly over his eyes; eyes that were the most beautiful green I had ever seen. They were piercing, and staring right at me.

I could feel the blood pooling in my cheeks as I quickly looked away. My entire body tensed as I paused mid step.

"Relax!" Alice whispered in my ear.

"I'm trying." I said back. "Do you see those two guys over there?"

"You mean tall dark and handsome standing next to that table over there? Of course I see them. And they definitely see us; especially 'ole green eyes over there. He keeps staring at you."

"Stop looking at them!" I hissed, trying to keep my balance. I was trying my hardest not to fall down the stairs, but as luck would have it, I did anyway.

I heard Alice laugh, and I braced myself for impact with the floor; but it never happened. Instead, I felt strong arms catch me around the waist, holding me up above the ground.

"Oh." Was all I could manage to say as I tried to regain my balance.

"Are you okay?" A voice called from above me. It was velvety smooth and absolutely intoxicating. I almost forgot to breath, and speaking was out of the question.

A loud laugh broke me out of my daze, and I blushed deeper.

"Still clumsy, huh Bells?" Emmett's familiar voice rang through the room.

I heard Alice laugh before she spoke to Emmett.

"Hey Em, it's good to see you!" Her soft tinkling voice sounded strange after his loud baritone.

"Are you alright?" The same voice asked me again, sounding concerned.

I swallowed. I didn't really trust myself to speak, but I didn't want him to question my mental abilities either.

"I'm fine, thanks." I mumbled a little quicker then I should have.

"You should be more careful. I'd hate to see you get hurt." He said, flashing me a crooked grin. I felt my heartbeat quicken, and I'm sure he felt it too, because he smiled wider.

"Th-Thanks." I mentally winced at my stutter.

The stranger's arms were still wrapped around my waist when Emmett's voice came from right beside me.

"Hey Eddie, you going to let go of my cousin any time soon?" Emmett asked with humor in his voice.

"I was thinking about it." The voice said above me.

I groaned. This was going to be embarrassing.

"But I'm not sure if I can count on her not to fall again."

Now wait a minute. This guy knew nothing about me. Who was he to make assumptions that I couldn't walk upright.

"Well, you do have a point. She does tend to fall a lot." Alice said, laughing.

Traitor.

"She is rather clumsy." Emmett continued. What was this? Pick on Bella night?

"I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own." I said, finally finding my voice.

"We know you can walk B, it's just staying upright that tends to be the problem." Alice countered.

"Thanks Al. Some friend you are."

I was trying to pull myself free of the strangers' arms, but only managed to succeed in tripping again.

"Here, let me help you." He said, guiding me down the stairs.

"I can handle it on my own." I bit back, trying to pull free again.

"It doesn't seem that way." He said, flashing his crooked smile again. I felt my knees go a little weak as I grabbed onto the railing.

"Oh Bells, we're just having some fun. Come give your favorite cousin a hug!" Emmett said, pulling me into a bone crushing hug.

"It's good to see you too Em." I choked out. "But I do need to breathe."

"So how are you liking college so far little cousin?" Emmett asked, guiding me to the center of the room. It seemed like everyone had gone back to their own business, so I wasn't in the spotlight anymore.

"It's been good. Kind of boring so far, but I guess that's to be expected this early in the year."

"You always were the studious one, weren't ya Ella." Emmett said, ruffling my hair.

"Hey, don't mess up the hair!" Alice called from somewhere behind me. "I worked hard to make it look that good."

Emmett threw his arms up and gave Alice a small grin.

"Sorry Alice."

I laughed. It was nice being around Emmett, he always knew how to make me laugh.

"Hey Emmett, are you going to introduce us to your cousin?" A male voice called from behind me.

"You come near my cousin and you'll wish you hadn't pledged this house." Emmett called back. It almost sounded like a growl. I turned to see who he was talking to. The guy was plain looking, blond hair pulled back into a pony tail. He was dressed in jeans and a polo shit, looking every bit like the stereotypical frat boy.

"Possessive much?" I said, turning to Emmett.

"Sorry. That guy is bad news though. I don't want him anywhere near you," Emmett said, draping his arm around my shoulder.

"Who needs a brother when I have you?" I said sarcastically. I glanced at the guy again, turning away when I saw him staring at me.

Emmett only laughed.

"Are you going to introduce us?" The boy with the green eyes asked Emmett. His green eyes were mesmerizing, and I found it hard to look away.

"Bella, these are my good friends Jasper," He said, pointing to the guy with blond hair, "And this is Edward. He's the one that prevented you from meeting the floor."

"Pleasure." Jasper said, shaking my head.

"Pleased to have been of service. I heard the floor isn't very nice." Edward said, laughing. His eyes sparkled when he laughed.

"Nice to meet you too." I said only to be jabbed in the ribs, painfully, by Alice.

"Oh, and this is my roommate Alice." I said, turning to her. She smiled sweetly before turning to Jasper.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jasper." She said, extending her hand. She had a glint in her eye, meaning she had found a target for her affections.

The poor guy would never know what hit him.


	3. All Things Considered

(BPOV)

In hindsight, I feel slightly guilty that I didn't think of Jacob once throughout the night. I was too absorbed with Edward to really think of anything. And all things considered, you can't really blame me.

Edward Masen (as I later found out his last name), was virtually perfect. Everyone stopped to say hi to him, or talk to him, or just look at him as they walked by.

At times, I felt like a lost puppy, following him around the room as he mingled, but after a few polite words, he would always turn his attention back to me.

Can you blame a girl for not being able to think of anything else?

After the embarrassing incident with the stairs, Emmett made it his mission to introduce me to everyone he knew. And surprisingly enough, Edward hardly left my side.

"Hey Laurent, this is my cousin Bella, the one I was telling you about." Emmett said, introducing me to yet another person whose name I wouldn't remember tomorrow.

"Lovely to meet you Bella." The guy said, shaking my hand. I smiled in return, mumbling a quiet "you too."

"Laurent is our newest brother." Edward whispered to me. "He's only been here for a year, and he usually tries to do everything in his power to please us."

I'm not sure I wanted to know what that would entail.

It continued in this fashion until I had met 12 brothers in the house.

"You don't really like these kinds of situations, do you?" Edward asked me as I tried to sneak away from Emmett.

"How could you tell?" I said sheepishly. I glanced over at Emmett, who had occupied himself with a gorgeous blond, and smiled.

"Looks like you're in the clear." Edward said with a laugh. "Emmett has been trying to get that girls attention for weeks."

"Thank god." I said with a sigh. "Honestly, I'm not going to remember the names of half of these people tomorrow. And quite frankly, the staring is starting to get a little old." As I said this, the same guy from earlier, the one with the pony tail, was looking at me with that same hungry look in his eye. It was making me nervous.

"Guys always stare at beautiful girls." Edward said. I felt the blood flow to my cheeks.

"If you say so." I said, shrugging.

"So tell me a little about yourself." Edward asked, leading me back up the stairs. I was grateful to get out of the basement and into a less crowded room.

"Well, I'm 19, a freshman, and I have no idea what I'm doing at a frat party." I said honestly. "Anything in particular you want to know?" It was so easy to talk to him, and I found myself wanting to know more about him.

"Are you also from Forks?" He asked as he sat down on a large oversized sofa. He motioned for me to sit next to him, and I did so without hesitation.

"I'm really from Phoenix, but I lived in Forks the last two years." I said smiling. I missed Phoenix a lot, and I still considered it my hometown; I did spend the majority of my life there, so it wasn't really a lie.

"I've never been to Phoenix, but I heard it's nice." He said casually.

"Where are you from?" I asked, leaning back into the sofa.

"I'm originally from Chicago, but I moved to Portland when I was a teenager." He sounded vague as he told me where he was from, not mentioning more then having lived in Chicago and Portland; I decided not to press further, especially since I barely knew him.

Time seemed to go by quickly as we talked about various topics ranging from the weather to movies, and even sharing a few laughs over the behavior of several drunken party-goers. But he never asked any personal questions, and I never gave any personal information.

"Maybe we should go find your friend." He said suddenly, standing up.

"Oh. Yeah, I probably should." I was confused by his abrupt behavior, but was momentarily sidetracked by the fact that I hadn't seen Alice since I first got here. "I'm sure she's fine, but who knows the trouble that girl can get into." I said with a laugh.

Edward smiled as he led me back downstairs into the basement.

It didn't take me long to find Alice. She was perched on top of the bar, surrounded by a crowd of guys. Typical Alice; she was always the center of attention no matter where she went.

"Hey Al." I called, trying to make my way through the throng that surrounded her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Edward following close behind me.

"Bella, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you." She cried, hopping down from the counter. "Where have you been?" She asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"I was upstairs talking with Edward." I said, looking back behind me.

"Oh really? Interesting." She said, a gleam in her eye. I knew that look, and it was usually a bad sign.

"Alice, whatever you're thinking, no." I said sternly, glaring at her. She just smiled.

"Well, it's getting late B. Are you ready to head back to the apartment?" She asked, trying to stifle a yawn. I hadn't thought to look at a clock, and was surprised to see that it was two in the morning.

"Sure, we should probably go find Emmett though and tell him we're leaving." I said, glancing around the room. It had mostly cleared out, a few of the frat brothers hanging around talking to the remaining guests.

"Oh, I'm sure Emmett is rather… occupied." Alice said, laughing. I frowned.

"Occupied how?" I asked. I immediately regretted it.

"I saw him go upstairs with a rather breathtaking blond earlier."

"Oh. I'm sure he won't miss us then." I said, trying not to think of Emmett and whatever he was doing with that girl. He was like my brother, and those thoughts were just disturbing.

"I'm going to go find Jasper and say goodbye then. You wait right here." She said, bouncing away from me.

"So, Bella, where did you cousin go?" A voice whispered in my ear. I jumped, startled by the warm breath on the side of my face. I turned around to see the guy from earlier, the one with the pony-tail.

"Oh, I'm sure he's around here somewhere." I said, backing away from the guy. He made me uncomfortable, the way he was looking at me.

"That's too bad. I'm afraid I was never properly introduced. My name is James Hunter." He said, extending his hand. I hesitated, not wanting to put mine in his.

"Nice to meet you James." I said, trying to be polite. This guy gave me a bad feeling, but I couldn't quite put a finger on what it was.

"Why don't we go upstairs and get better acquainted." He said, putting his arm around my waist.

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea. My friend Alice is coming back to meet me, so I don't want to go anywhere." I said, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"I'm sure your friend will understand." He said, pulling me closer to him.

"James, I'm fairly sure she told you know." An angry voice said from behind me. I used the distraction to pull myself away from James, turning to look at Edward.

"I'm fairly sure you should butt out Edward." James said his voice low.

"And I'm fairly sure you should leave before I kick your ass." Edward said, standing in front of me.

"B, you ready to go?" Alice said, coming down the stairs. Her eyes widened as she looked at me, and then at Edward and James.

"Bella, you should go with Alice." Edward said, turning back to me. "I'll let Emmett know you two left alone." He said, glaring at James.

"Alright." Alice said, grabbing my arm. "I'll send Jasper a text letting him know we got home alright." Alice told him, as she pulled me up the stairs.

Edward didn't say anything else as he turned back to James, and quickly vanished from my sight as Alice led me up the stairs and out of the house.

"Well, that was interesting." Alice said as we quickly walked down the street.

"What was interesting?" I asked, my thoughts still focused on what had happened back at the party. I was confused by the look that had been on Edwards face.

"Edward barely left your side the entire night." Alice pointed out, a grin on her face.

"He was just being nice, especially since my cousin and my best friend completely ditched me. And speaking of that, where were you, dear friend?" I asked, trying to focus the attention back on her.

"Just hanging out with Jasper… He doesn't know it yet, but he totally loves me." She said happily.

And her words triggered something in my mind; something that I had neglected to think about all night.

Love.

Jacob.

The fact that I had a boyfriend and I had spent the entire evening with another guy, a guy who I wanted to know everything about.

My whole world had changed in the course of an evening, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do about it.


	4. It's Never Easy

Life is hard.

Hurting people you love is even harder.

I was tired; I hardly got any sleep last night, mainly because I was tossing and turning, worrying about Jacob, and thinking about Edward.

I had never been so captivated by a person before, not even when I first got to know Jacob.

I had first met Jacob when I was a little girl during my summers in Forks. His father and mine were old friends, and every summer we would go fishing with him and his three kids; Jacob, and his twin sisters. Jacob was a year younger then me, and I never really thought much about him, until I moved to Forks when I was 17.

Charlie had thrown a welcome home party for me my first weekend there; practically the whole town was invited. Billy was there, with Jacob, and that was the first time I remember really _seeing_ him. He was tall for his age, and big, and had the warmest smile I had ever seen. He was so carefree and happy it was hard not to smile around him.

And it was the first time a guy had actually shown any romantic interest in me. At first I was against the idea, but the more time I spent with him, the more I started to like him, until one day he kissed me, and we were together from that point on.

Being with Jacob was easy; like breathing. We never argued or got into fights. We always had fun no matter what we were doing; whether going to Port Angeles to watch movies or sitting in his garage drinking warm coke out of a can. We just were.

And everyone was happy for us; everyone except for Alice. She thought I was settling for Jacob without really seeing what else was out there. Alice had always been a hopeless romantic, getting her inspiration from romance novels and chick flicks. I never paid much attention to her, since I was happy with Jacob, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was right.

Emmett didn't really care for Jacob either, but since he was living eight hours away, he never really spoke much about it.

So if I was happy with Jacob, content in my relationship, why did I find myself thinking so much about Edward Masen? I hardly knew the guy, except for where he was from, but I couldn't help but feel that I wanted to know everything about him.

"Bells, are you awake?" A soft voice came from outside my door. I groaned as I looked at the clock, glaring at the glowing red letters. Seven Thirty.

"Yeah Al. Come in." I said, rolling over and facing the door. I smiled as she tip-toed in and climbed into my bed.

"I think I'm in love B." She said with a small smile.

"With who?" I asked, looking at her. She didn't look like her normal cheery self (although it was hard for anyone to look cheery at this time of day). Her eyes were dark, void of their usual sparkle. Her hair was matted from sleeping, and her mascara was smudged below her eyes.

"Jasper." She said, looking down. "I know it sounds crazy, and I know I barely know him, but I feel like he's the one I've been waiting for B." She whispered.

"Oh Al…" I said, reaching over and pulling her into a hug. Alice was the only person I knew who believed in love at first sight.

"I can't stop thinking about him. I was lying awake all night, tossing and turning, trying to scheme up ways to see him again, and to spend more time with him."

I laughed. Typical Alice, always scheming to get her way.

"Al, you have to let it happen naturally. If it's meant to be, it'll happen." I told her, rubbing her hair. "You can't mess with fate Alice, you know that."

"It's going to happen Bells, I can feel it. I've never been so sure of something in my entire life."

"More then that time you were convinced that I was going to be nominated for prom queen?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Hey, I was right about that, remember." She said, defending herself. She tried to sound offended, but she burst into laughter instead.

"Like I said before Al, you can't mess with fate." I said, sighing.

"What's wrong B?" Alice asked, finally taking in my appearance. "You look like hell." She added with a smile.

"Thanks. But I think I'm in the same predicament as you." I told her.

"You think you're in love? Isabella Marie Swan, have you been holding out on me?" She asked, sitting up.

"No, no, not that. I didn't sleep last night at all. I couldn't stop thinking about him Al, and I know it's wrong, but I can't help it. I don't know what to do." I was close to crying now, which was something I really didn't want to do.

"Stop thinking about who? Edward?" Of course she knew. She always knew.

"No, of Albert Einstein." I said sarcastically. "Yes, of Edward. I just… I can't stop thinking about him. I want to know everything about him. I've never felt that way about someone I've only just met. And I feel guilty." I admitted.

"Guilty about what? Did you do something last night?" She was interested now; I could hear it in her voice.

"No, I didn't do anything last night. But I thought about it. I thought that if the opportunity presented itself with Edward, I might not be able to stop it. And the whole time I was with him, at the party, I didn't once think about Jake." I whispered as I said this, as though saying it out loud would make it worse.

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry. I know it's hard, but you've got to do what your heart is telling you to do. You and Jake are in different places now, not just in location but in life too." She said, rubbing my shoulder. "I know you don't want to hear this, but I always thought you were settling with Jake. What more proof do you need then what you're feeling about Edward?"

"But I can't hurt him Al. He's my best friend." I said, as if it would make things better.

"But is it worth hurting yourself? What if you realize, ten years down the road that you're absolutely miserable, that you gave up something that could have been great because you were afraid of hurting someone? Bella, you are the most unselfish person I have ever met. You need to start doing more things for yourself, and stop trying to cater to everyone else."

"Does that mean no more Bella Barbie?" I asked with a small smile.

"Well, Bella, some people always need catering, and I'm one of those people." I rolled my eyes. I should have known it would apply to everyone _but_ her. "Besides, I always have such amazing results with Bella Barbie, and I think a lot of people would complain if I stopped." She said with a giggle.

"Well, you can work magic." I admitted. "Thanks Al, for being such an amazing friend." I said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"You make it so easy B. I love you, I really do." She said, yawning too.

"If you loved me, you wouldn't torture me with shopping and makeup." I said as I rolled onto my side. "I love you too Al."

"It's not torture. It's tough love." She said as she leaned back against my headboard.

I laughed as I closed my eyes, trying to clear my mind. Before long, I drifted into a dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A loud banging woke me up, and I groaned in annoyance. Leave it to Alice to make as much noise as humanly possible.

I rolled over, glancing at the clock on my nightstand. Two forty five. Wow. I had slept in late. Running a hand through my tangled hair, I crawled out of bed and walked out to the living room to see what all the noise was about.

"Al, you know you could wake the dead with all the noise you're making, right?" I asked as I entered the room.

The sight that greeted me was not what I was expecting. Sitting at my dining room table was Emmett, enjoying a large bowl of cereal.

"Morning sunshine," he said through a mouthful of food. "'Bout time you woke up."

"Nice to see you too," I said, walking into the kitchen. "And feel free to help yourself to my lucky charms." I said in annoyance.

"I'd be happy too." He said, pouring more into his bowl. "So did you have fun last night? Alice told me there was a little incident at the end of the night with James, but don't worry Ella, it's been taken care of."

"James? Oh, that. What do you mean taken care of?" I asked, sitting down next to him at the table. I grabbed the box of cereal and poured some into my bowl.

"James is no longer a part of our house." He said, annoyance dripping from his words.

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said, not really knowing what to say. I poured some milk into my bowl and took a bite, the marshmallows instantly cheering me up. I loved lucky charms.

"S'not your fault," he said between bites. "I told him to stay away from you. It's his own fault he didn't listen. And I wasn't the one who kicked him out anyway. Edward was furious; yelled for a good twenty minutes before throwing his sorry ass onto the curb, at three in the morning to boot." Emmett laughed at that, leaning back in his chair. "The guy had it coming anyways. He's been pulling a lot of stupid shit the last couple of months. About time one of us snapped and chucked him out, never thought it'd be Eddie though."

"That's interesting." Alice said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen. She looked a lot more rested, thanks to our morning nap, and in a much better mood. I was still focused on the fact that Edward had kicked James out.

"So what are you girls up to today?" Emmett asked, pouring himself another bowl of cereal.

"Well, I'm going to have to go buy more cereal, the way you're going." I said, snatching the box away from him. I tried to scowl at him, but I ended up just laughing. "I need to get started on some homework, actually."

"Homework is for geeks." Alice said sweetly, sitting down at the table with us. "And you could probably stand to eat something with a little less sugar." She said, frowning at me.

"Okay mom. At least geeks get good grades though." I said, sticking my tongue out at her.

"Alice is right. Homework can wait for Sunday's. It's what it's there for anyway."

"I agree with Emmett." Alice said with a smile. I groaned. She was determined to make me fail out of college my first term.

"Besides, I kind of wanted to ask Emmett for some help with something." She said, turning to him. She gave him her best puppy dog eyes, and I frowned. This can't be good.

"Shoot." Emmett said, falling hook, line and sinker.

"So, you know your friend Jasper?" She started, and I dropped my spoon.

"Alice, no, you're not going to use my family to get a guy!" I exclaimed before she could get any further.

"Let me finish." She said, glaring at me. "Now, I really think that your friend Jasper is an amazing guy, based on what I saw of him at the party. I was hoping you might be able to help me get to know him a little better."

"I don't know Alice. Jasper is a pretty quiet guy, he normally keeps to himself. I don't really know all that much about him." Emmett said, frowning a little. "I've tried to hook him up numerous times, but he always seems to come up with an excuse."

"Please Em, try, for me?" She pleaded, sounding pathetic. She was good. Emmett was hopeless against her.

"Of course I'll try Al, but I can't make any guarantees. What did you have in mind?"

"You've got to be kidding me." I groaned as I got up from the table. I didn't even want to hear what Alice had planned for this poor Jasper guy. "I'll be in my room attempting to do homework." I called as I put my bowl in the sink.

I laughed when I got no response. Whatever Alice had up her sleeve, she was fully committed to it. I just hoped she wouldn't pull me into whatever it was.


	5. Selfish

(BPOV)

I couldn't get the party out of my mind. Or maybe it was just Edward that I couldn't stop thinking about. I could remember every detail of his face; his perfect pale skin, his messy bronze hair, his piercing green eyes. The velvety tone of his voice still sent chills down my spine.

I groaned. Why me? I had a boyfriend, a great one at that.

'A boyfriend who is mad at you for going to that party.' A voice said in my head.

Great. Now I'm going crazy too.

'Not crazy, just feeling guilty.' The voice said again.

I shouldn't feel guilty. I didn't do anything.

'But you thought about it.'

I sighed as I glanced up at the library. Now I was arguing with myself about whether or not I should feel guilty. If this is what college does to a girl, maybe I shouldn't go.

I had been entirely unable to focus on my school work earlier, especially with Alice chattering non stop about that Jasper guy from the party. She couldn't stop talking about how "dreamy" he was, and thanking me for being related to Emmett, who happened to live with Jasper.

And Edward.

I groaned again.

I shook my head, trying to clear all thoughts away from Edward as I approached the library. It was the best place to hide from Alice and her scheming ideas (most of which involved me). At least I'd get some peace and quiet.

Or so I thought.

"Bella?" A familiar voice called, breaking me from my thoughts. I turned to face a blond haired guy, who was unnaturally tan for this time of year. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place him.

"Uh… Hi." I said, with a half-hearted smile. I felt like I should know who this was.

"I had heard that you had enrolled here, but I didn't know if it was true." The boy said, rushing up to me. Before I could protest, he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close.

"Yeah… I just started last week." I felt uncomfortable.

"We all did Bella. Man, you are even more beautiful then I remember." He said, pulling back and looking at me. Did I know him from Forks? From Phoenix? Something was nagging me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. He looked so familiar, but his name just wasn't popping up.

"You and Alice still friends? I remember when you first moved to Forks, and you two were inseparable." He said with a laugh. So I knew him from Forks. That narrowed down the possibilities.

"Yeah, we're actually living together in the freshman apartments."

"Well that's cool. So, do you maybe want to go out sometime? I heard of this really great restaurant downtown that I wanted to try out."

Shoot. I hated being rude to people, but I really didn't want to go out with this person.

"Oh, uh…" I started. Luckily I was interrupted before I could finish.

"Hey Bella!" Another voice called from behind me. This one I recognized; I would know that velvety voice anywhere.

But what was he doing here? Part of me was afraid to turn around, but I did anyways.

"Hey Edward." I said happily, relieved to have him here. I turned back to the guy whose name I couldn't remember, giving him a small shrug.

"Bella, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere."

Huh?

"Oh, well, here I am, talking to…" Hopefully he would say his name.

"Mike. Mike Newton. Bella and I are friends from high school."

Did that really work? Huh.

"Edward Cullen. I'm a friend of Bella's, through her cousin Emmett."

A friend? What on earth was going on here? I looked from Edward to Mike, my mouth hanging slightly open.

"Well Bella, think about dinner. I've gotta run, but I'll see you around." Mike said, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Oh, okay. Yeah, see ya." I said, waving at him as he left.

I turned back to Edward, who had an amused smirk on his face. For a moment I was speechless. Why was Edward smirking? Why was Mike annoyed? Why was I confused?

Oh. Right. Edward, virtually a complete stranger, had told Mike that we were friends.

"I figured you could use a hand." Edward said, his green eyes flashing.

"Huh?" Was all I could say.

"Well, I saw how uncomfortable you looked when he hugged you. Unless you wanted to go to dinner with him, in which I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed you." His smile faltered a bit.

"Oh. Oh! No. Honestly, I couldn't even remember his name. I knew that I knew him from somewhere, but I couldn't place where from." I let out a nervous laugh, running a hand through my hair.

"Poor guy. He'll be devastated." Edward laughed. "So what brings you to the library on this lovely Saturday evening?"

The library. Right. For a moment I had forgotten where I was. It was frustrating how Edward had that effect on me.

"Just catching up on some homework. Alice is usually a distraction, so I figured I'd go someplace and hide from her."

"I often come here to hide from Emmett, so we have something in common."

"I could see that. Emmett can be quite… loud, at times. It would be very hard to concentrate with him in the same house."

Before I knew it, Edward was holding the door open for me and we were walking into the library.

I hadn't even realized that we had started walking.

"What are you working on?" Edward asked as we made our way up the stairs.

"Just a short paper for my English class. And I have some of those 'get to know you' note cards to do for a few of my other classes. Nothing too complicated. You?"

"I hate doing those note cards. Luckily as I got higher up in my courses, I was taking classes with the same professors and they already knew who I was. And I'm now starting to work on my capstone project. What's your major?"

"I haven't really decided on one yet. I'm leaning towards Criminal Justice though. What's yours?"

"I'm pre-med, with an emphasis in Biology."

It amazed me how easy it was talking to Edward. Before I knew it, we were seated in a private study room.

We sat in a comfortable silence as I pulled my laptop out of my backpack.

"So why Southern Oregon?" Edward asked, catching me off guard.

"Oh. I wanted to get out of Forks. See someplace new. I had heard a lot of good things about the school, and Ashland, so I figured why not. Plus, Emmett goes here, so there'd be at least one familiar face."

"You chose a school simply because it was far away from home? That doesn't seem like a very good reason." He stated.

"That's not the only reason." I defended myself.

"You're a horrible a liar." His green eyes flashed again.

"Excuse me?" How did he know I was lying?

"You're very unconvincing when you lie."

"First of all, you don't know me. Second, you don't know me." How dare he judge me.

"No, I don't know you, which is why I'm asking you questions to get to know you." He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Oh. Why did he care so much?

"Why do you care?" Oops. Did I just say that out loud?

"I'm not really sure. Are you going to answer or not, why Southern Oregon?"

"I was miserable in Forks. I hated it there. I needed to get out. Emmett was already going here, so I figured why not. It's over 500 miles away, so it seemed acceptable."

"Why did you hate it?"

"It was so wet. And I missed my mom. Alice was amazing, and she made it a lot better, but it still wasn't the same as Phoenix. It was cold."

"Why did you leave Phoenix then? Why Forks?"

"My mom got remarried when I was 16, and for the first year, she spent all her time with me at home while Phil was traveling for baseball. I felt bad, so I decided to do something about it. My mom has made a lot of sacrifices for me in the past, so I figured it was about time for me to make one for her." My cheeks flushed a little when I finished. I couldn't believe I was sitting here with an almost complete stranger sharing my life story.

"That's amazingly unselfish." He said, flashing his crooked smile at me again. I blushed further.

"I just wanted her to be happy." I said shrugging. It seemed like the right thing to do. "And it made Charlie happy too."

"Is Charlie your father?"

"Yes. He's usually known as Police Chief Swan though. He's kind of a big deal in Forks. So by association, I was a big deal too when I first got back. Too much attention."

"You don't like attention?" He seemed shocked at my revelation.

"I hate attention. I'm naturally clumsy, and all the added spotlight just makes it more obvious."

"Oh, so you falling down the stairs wasn't a one time incident?" He asked with a laugh.

I should have known he'd bring that up.

"No. Unfortunately, it's a quite common occurrence." I laughed with him. It was true, I was the biggest klutz. I could trip while walking across a flat surface.

"Well, I'll just have to make sure to be there when you fall. Can't have you hurting yourself your first term of college."

The thought of him being around made me blush again, and sent my heart racing.

"So how are you related to Emmett? You guys are almost nothing a like."

At this I laughed. It was true. Em and I were as different as night and day.

"His mom is my dad's sister. They live in Forks too. His mom is absolutely wonderful. She stepped in to be my mother figure when I moved back to Forks. It was a lot easier then talking to Charlie. And his dad is the head surgeon at the hospital in Forks. They are an amazing family."

"I've met his parents before. They really are something. But I still can't see how you two could possibly be related. Emmett is so… Emmett. Annoying, loud. Big. And you're so…" He trailed off.

I waited.

He looked down at the book he had open on the table. I couldn't remember him opening the book, or even taking it out of his bag, but I seemed to miss a lot of things when I was with him. That was slightly disconcerting.

"I'm so what?"

I really was curious to know what I was. Especially to him.

"You're quiet. Shy. Reserved. Definitely not annoying." He said with a smile. My heart beat sped up again.

"So are we done with the 20 questions?" I asked, looking at my blank computer screen. I hadn't even started on my paper yet. I'm not sure I could concentrate on it now either, with Edward so close.

"Not even close. You said earlier that I didn't know you. I told you that I wanted to get to know you. Asking questions is the best way to do that. What's your favorite color?"

"My favorite color? I don't really have one. I guess it depends on my mood."

"What's the first one that comes to your mind? Usually that's your favorite."

"Green." Oh shit. Since when was green my favorite color?

'_Since you saw his green eyes.'_ My inner voice said again. "What's yours?" I asked, trying to shift back to him.

"Brown." He said simply, looking intently at me. I blushed again, and ducked my head.

"Although red is making a strong case for itself right now." He said quietly.

We sat in silence for awhile after that. I would glance at him every minute or so, looking away when I noticed he was looking at me.

Part of me felt guilty; like I was doing something wrong by sitting in the library spilling my guts to a guy; a guy who wasn't Jacob. But part of me felt like a piece was missing from my life. I had never been this open with anyone but Alice (and that was because she forced the information out of me). Jake had never asked me personal questions like that. He had never cared to know why I hated Forks, or what led me to move back there in the first place. And I'm certain he had never asked me what my favorite color was.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward asked, breaking the silence.

"About Forks, actually." I said before I could stop myself. I felt horrible, but I didn't want to tell him about Jacob.

"What about Forks? Did you leave something behind?"

"Kind of. It sometimes feels like I left a part of myself behind."

"What do you mean?" His voice sounded confused.

"There's this guy. We're kind of dating." Since when were Jake and I 'kind of' dating? Last I checked we were dating. "He keeps asking me to move back home. Telling me it's where I belong. He was upset that I picked a college so far away, and sometimes tries to make me feel guilty about leaving."

"You can't let people guilt you out of things that you want to do Bella. That's not fair. It sounds like he's taking advantage of your selflessness."

"I know. Coming here was one of the first decisions I made for myself. My dad and Jake wanted me to go to Washington, but I really just wanted to get out of there. I didn't want to be that close to Forks."

"Do you regret coming here?" He asked quietly.

"No. I love it here. I've only been here for a couple weeks, but it already feels like home."

"Then don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It's okay to be selfish once in awhile Bella. Look at me; I'm being selfish right now, keeping you from your studies."

"Thanks Edward. It's nice to have someone else's perspective on this." I laughed at his selfish remark. "And I'm being selfish by enjoying it."

He laughed again, and I realized that I always wanted to hear him laugh, and see him smile. He had the most amazing smile; enough to make me go weak in the knees.

Jake had never made me feel that way.


	6. Breaking

(BPOV)

I hated what I was about to do. I was about to break the heart of my best friend, probably my father too.

But what choice did I have?

The way I felt around Edward was something I'd never felt with Jake.

I loved Jake; but that wasn't enough anymore.

I sighed, picking up the phone and dialing the familiar number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Billy, its Bella. Is Jake around?" I tried not to sound like my heart was breaking. This was for the best, and deep down I knew it.

"Oh, hi Bella. Yeah, he's here. Just a minute."

I heard Billy yell for Jake, and stifled a laugh as I heard loud thumps as Jake ran for the phone.

"Hey beautiful." He said as he picked up the phone.

I swallowed loudly.

"Hey Jake…" I started carefully. Shit. How was I supposed to do this? And over the phone? How much of a coward was I?

"What's wrong Isa?" Of course he would know something was wrong. I could never hide anything from him.

"I…Jake, I don't know how to say this." Tears were already running down my cheeks, and I did nothing to stop them.

"Bella?" I could hear the worry in his voice, the hurt.

"I'm sorry Jake." The words were harder to say now, the tears were flowing faster.

"Sorry for what? What is it Bella?"

"I… I can't do this anymore Jake."

"Do what anymore? Bells, I don't understand." Confusion laced his voice, along with panic, hurt, fear. I was a monster.

"Us, Jake." It barely came out as a whisper, but I knew he heard me.

"Is this about that party? Bella, you can go to any party that you want."

"It's not that." How do I explain this to him?

"Then what? I'll move to Ashland if that's what it takes. I love you Bella."

"I love you too Jake, but…"

"It's not enough is it?" The pain was back, the hurt.

"I'm sorry Jake." The tears weren't stopping now, and it took all the control I had to keep my voice from breaking.

"What happened? What brought this on Bella?" He was mad now, anger dripping from every word. "I knew you should never have left. You should have stayed in Forks. You'd be happy here."

"No, I wouldn't have. That's the thing Jake. I hated Forks. I've always hated it. I was miserable there, and you know it." Now I was mad too. He was always trying to guilt trip me into coming back to Forks.

"But you had me…"

I hoped he wouldn't finish that sentence.

"Jake, I'm sorry. But I have to start doing what's best for me." Soft sobs broke through my speech.

"If it's best for you, then why are you crying?" The anger was back, laced with disbelief.

"Sometimes life hurts Jake. We are supposed to be in each others lives, but not like this. I can't move back to Forks for you Jake. I can't be happy there. I'm not that girl."

"You used to be. I could see us, Bella, together; a house, down the street from Charlie's, with a dog, and kids. I can still see it Bells.

"I want to travel Jake, see the world. I want to have a career." I had explained this to him many times, but he never seemed to get it.

"Where is this coming from Bella? You were perfectly happy with us a week ago. You were fine with our future. I figured you'd go to school down there for a year, and then come home."

"Jake, I'm not coming home. I never wanted the future you want for us. I don't want to stay in Forks. I don't want to be a housewife. I can't be that girl for you. I'm sorry."

My body was shaking now, but not a sound escaped.

"So this is it? You're ending it, just like that? Throwing everything away for a stupid career?" The anger was back again, every word he spoke cutting me like a knife.

"It's not a stupid career Jake. For once, I'm listening to what my heart is telling me. I've spent too long doing what everyone else wants me to do. And I can't be with someone who thinks my dreams are stupid."

"Bella…" He started, but I cut him off.

"We used to be easy Jake, like breathing. But now it feels like I'm suffocating. I can't do this anymore. I have to be happy Jake, and you do too. Love isn't always enough. We both want different things. You're my best friend, and I don't want us to end up hating each other."

"I am happy, Bella, and I thought you were too." The hurt was back in his voice. "And it might be too late for that Bella."

"Jake…" I breathed before I started sobbing. I almost didn't hear the soft click over the line.

He had hung up on me. I had broken his heart and now he hated me. And he'd tell Charlie, and he'd hate me too.

I had hurt everyone I loved, but it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**AN**: Okay, I know this chapter is ridiculously short. It was actually one of the first ones I wrote of this story. It's one of those chapters that needed to happen, but I didn't want to go into a lot of detail about.

This was never going to be a Jacob/Bella story. Ever. Jacob is just a casualty in my cruel, twisted mind (can you tell I was never a fan of j/b?)

Again, sorry for the short chapter! - kapers


	7. You Weren't In On This?

Authors Note: Okay guys… I'm really really sorry it has taken me this long to get this chapter out. I've been working on it for over a week, I promise. On the upside, it's the longest chapter I've written to date… on the downside, it might take me just as long to get out chapter 8 (especially since I haven't even _started_ that one yet…). But, you were all warned that I am a sporadic updater.

I'm sorry if this chapter is confusing to anyone, I jump around to different pov's. Hopefully they all blend together.

With that said, enjoy  (Insert generic disclaimer here…)

Ch 7 You Weren't In On This?

(BPOV)

I had been lying in bed for over an hour, thinking about the events that had brought me to this point.

I had just ended a relationship that I had been in for almost two years. I had just broken my best friends' heart.

But I couldn't bring myself to cry anymore. Sure, I had cried while I was talking to Jacob, and for a little while afterwards, but now I was just… I wasn't really sure what I was. Of course I was sad, but I also felt… better.

I glanced over at the clock.

10:30.

I had been lying here for two hours. Wondering if Alice was still awake, I slowly made my way out of my bedroom and into the hall. Her door was slightly open, and the light was on, so I figured that meant she was at least home. Without knocking, I gently pushed the door open further.

"Alice?" I asked, stepping inside.

"Hey B, what's going on?" She asked, looking up from her desk. Her computer was on, and it looked like she was doing homework. I smiled; maybe I was starting to rub off on her.

"You busy?" I asked, sitting down on her bed. I needed to talk to someone, and Alice was my best shoulder to cry on, not that I was actually crying.

"Not at all. I was working on some homework for my art class, but I always welcome distractions. What's up?" She said with a laugh, moving to sit next to me on the bed.

"I broke up with Jake." I said, getting to the point. There was no sense in beating around the bush, especially with Alice.

"Oh honey, what happened?" She asked, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"Nothing, really, I just… I couldn't do it anymore. It's hard to explain. The worst thing is that I totally broke his heart." I didn't really know how to explain it to her.

"I don't understand Bella. I thought you were happy with him?" She looked confused. I know she didn't like Jake all that much, but she thought I was happy.

"Well, I was. But then I started thinking about it, and I realized that we're in two different places. He wants to live in Forks for the rest of his life. I can't do that. Did you know he expected me to only stay here for a year, and then move back home?"

"What brought this on B?" Her words echoed Jake's, except she wasn't angry, or hurt, just curious.

"I…" I didn't really want to tell her that Edward had brought this one. She would jump to conclusions and get caught up in crazy schemes to get Edward and me together.

"It's Edward, isn't it?" She asked. Damn, she was smarter then I gave her credit for.

"No. It's not him, exactly, but he helped me see some things." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders.

"Like what? What could he help you with that I couldn't?" She crossed her arms across her chest, pouting. She had been trying to months to get me to rethink my relationship with Jacob.

"It's not that, Alice, but yesterday, when I ran into him at the library, he kept asking me questions. And he actually cared about the answers. He asked what my favorite color was. Jake has never once asked me what my favorite color was. And Edward… He actually stopped to listen to why I came to Southern; he didn't try to make me feel guilty about leaving Charlie to fend for himself. Jake was always trying to make me feel guilty!" I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back from my face.

"You are the most unselfish person in the world Bells and Jacob was a fool to try to take advantage of that." Alice said sounding annoyed. That was one of the main problems she had with Jake; he was always trying to convince me to move back home, or not to leave in the first place.

"I know. But you didn't hear him on the phone Al. He sounded heart broken, and it's my fault." I truly did feel bad; I didn't want to hurt him.

"It'll be okay Bells. He'll see it's what's best for the both of you. Later on in life when he's with the girl he can't live without, he'll be thankful." She said, rubbing my back.

I smiled. Alice usually knew the best things to say.

"Besides, that leaves you available for Edward now." She said with a grin.

I groaned. Alice knew the worst things to say as well.

"Alice, no. I'm not ready to throw myself at another guy; I just broke up with Jake a couple hours ago.

"Well, I'm sure the time will come…" She trailed off, still smiling. "Okay, so what we need now is some chocolate ice cream, popcorn, and a good action movie. I know! Late night run to 7-11!" She said, jumping off her bed and heading towards the closet.

"Alice, it's okay, really." I said half-heartedly. I knew arguing with her was useless; Alice always got her way.

"No buts B. A junk food and movie night is just what you need." She said without looking at me, digging a sweatshirt out of her closet.

"Maybe I just need a night with my best friend." I said, giving her a smile.

"That too." She said, pulling a white sweatshirt over her head. "Let's go." She grabbed my arm and pulled me from the room.

I put up little resistance, knowing that she was just trying to make me feel better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(EPOV)

"Emmett, it's 10:45 on a Wednesday night. What reason could there possibly be for a beer run?"

I was annoyed, to say the least, at Emmett's latest request.

"Do we need a reason Eddie?" He asked happily, slapping me on the back.

"On a Wednesday night, when some of us have class in the morning, yes, we do need a reason."

"Jazz doesn't think we need a reason." Emmett said with a smirk.

"Speaking of Jazz… Why is he coming with us again? He isn't 21 yet." I accused. Something was up, and I felt like I was missing something obvious.

Jasper looked down at the grown, shoving his hands in his pockets. That confirmed my suspicion. Emmett laughed.

"And why are we walking?" True, we only lived a few blocks from the 7-11, and it was early fall so the nights weren't too cold yet, but we never walked.

"I figured we could use the workout." Emmett said shrugging.

"Workout? Emmett, you're on the wrestling team. You work out everyday." I glanced around at my surroundings, looking over at the freshman apartments before turning my attention back to Emmett.

And then it hit me. Freshman apartments. Jasper coming with us. Emmett insisting on us walking.

"Emmett, I'm going to ask one more time." I said, my voice low. "Why?" I didn't need to finish my sentence to get my point across.

"Okay man, calm down. Jazz here seems to be taken with little Alice, you know, my cousins roommate. So I figured we could stop by and see them…"

"And this involves me how?" I had stopped walking by this point.

"Well, you remember my cousin right?" He asked sheepishly. I raised an eyebrow; when was Emmett ever sheepish?

"How could I forget? The girl almost fell down the stairs."

Of course I couldn't forget her. She'd been in my thoughts since I met her on Friday. And our Sunday encounter at the library only cemented her presence there.

"Okay, well, don't get mad, but I wanted to take Jazz over there to see Alice, but then I got a call from Rosalie; you know the hot softball player from the party? Well, I figured we'd all go over to my cousins, and then I'd go from there to Rosalie's. I didn't want to leave Jazz there by himself."

Oh for the love of god. Was he trying to set me up? Not that I really minded, considering it was Bella, but it was the principal of the matter.

"Emmett you can't be serious." I practically shouted. I turned to Emmett, pinching the bridge of my nose with my left hand. "Do you even think these ideas through? Hell, do you even think at all?" We'd had this conversation before, the last time Emmett had tried to set me up with someone.

"Whoa Edward, I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. If you don't want to hang out with my cousin, then leave." His voice was low, angry. Wonderful.

"It's not that.." I started, which was the truth. I wanted to see Bella again, more then anything I've ever wanted. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her, and that scared me.

"Then what is it?"

"I just don't like being taken by surprise, and you know that. And it feels like you're trying to set me up." I was starting to feel bad for yelling at him.

To my surprise, he started laughing. And not a light chuckle kind of laugh, but a 'hold your gut and try not to fall to the ground' laugh

"Setting you up?" Emmett asked, between gasps. "With who? Bella?"

Obviously something about that was funny to him, because, if possible, he started laughing harder.

"I don't see what's so funny."

"Eddie, I know you. I know how you are with girls. I would never try to set you up with someone like Bella. She's too sweet and innocent."

Oh. Wait, how was I with girls?

"What do you mean?" I was perplexed, thinking back on my past relationships.

"Edward, you're never with the same girl for more then a month before you get bored." Jasper explained, glaring at Emmett who was still laughing.

"Oh." Was all I could say. Was I really that bad? Jasper just shrugged, as if he knew what I was feeling.

"I'm not that bad." I finally said, after Emmett stopped laughing.

"Yeah, right, how about we go talk to Tanya? You guys were hot and heavy for about a month before you dropped her."

I had totally forgotten about Tanya. We had been dating until the party last Friday. Until I had met Bella, and completely ignored Tanya for the rest of the evening; I'd been avoiding her calls ever since.

"She was clingy." I said lamely. I really had no better excuse.

"And what about Jessica Stanley? She lasted two weeks." Jasper cut in.

"Did you ever have to talk to her?" I asked. The girl was a moron, to put it nicely.

"Okay, fair point, but what about… Oh, what was her name? Betty? Brenda? Bonnie?"

"You mean Beth? She broke up with me, remember?" It was true; Beth had broken up with me during our 'end of the year' party.

"Yeah, because you didn't call her for a week. And then she walked in on you hooking up with that one hot redhead." Emmett said laughing again.

Shit. I'd forgotten about that.

"So basically you're telling me that I'm an asshole?" I guess I'd been called worse.

"Basically." Emmett agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "So you'll come? All you gotta do is hang out with Bella for a bit while Jazz makes his move on Alice."

"Alight." I couldn't really say no to a chance to get to know Bella better.

"Sweet. But seriously, don't try anything with Bella. Or I'll kick your ass. She's like a little sister to me. Plus, her dad is the Chief of Police back home." His voice had an edge to it, meaning he was serious. I didn't doubt Emmett's ability to kick my ass. And that would make the situation a little more complicated; especially if I wanted to get to know Bella better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(APOV)

I couldn't have planned this better myself, honestly. The way things were falling into place made it seem like fate really was working in my favor.

Emmett and I had brainstormed long and hard Saturday, planning ways that I could 'accidentally' run into Jasper, and the most plausible one that we came up with was running into each other at 7-11.

And then I had gone shopping to pick out the perfect outfit to wear when I did run into him. A girl could never be too prepared.

But what neither of us could have planned on Bella breaking up with Jacob because of Edward. She didn't come out and say it was because of him, but I usually had a sixth sense about these things.

When I saw Bella and Edward at the party last Friday, I could see that they had a future. The way he hovered around her, not letting her leave his sight, spoke volumes about how he felt about her. I had always believed in love at first sight, but I had never really seen it in action before.

"Come on Bells, I can practically hear the ice cream calling my name." I said as I pulled her along the sidewalk. I had been trying to find a reason to go to 7-11, and Bella had presented me a perfect occasion. Now all I had to do was convince her that our upcoming encounter was a coincidence. The girl really was too observant for her own good.

"Al, I'm walking as fast as I can. I'm tired. Forgive me if I'm slow." She said, although she put up little resistance to my dragging.

"Don't worry B. We're almost there." I said, eyeing the convenience store up the street. "Which movie do you want to watch tonight?" I tried to keep the topic light, hoping to get her into a semi-good mood.

"Oh, I don't know, something where everyone dies and no one ends up happily ever after?" She suggested, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Despite my best efforts, I laughed. Leave it to Bella. I'm not sure we actually owned any of those types of movies though.

"I don't think we have anything like that. How about something with a lot of eye candy in it? I could go for The Covenant. Man candy galore in that movie."

"Isn't there an underlying romance plot in it though? I'm not sure I want anything with romance."

"Aw B…" I said, throwing my arm around her. I would try to put it around her shoulders, but at my height, the best I could aim for was a waist. "Almost every movie has an underlying romance plot. Unless you're watching Hostel or something, but I think even in those movies people end up hooking up."

"Then let's watch something ridiculously cheesy then. Like Bring It On." She suggested, cracking a smile.

I was about to say something when I heard a male voice calling from down the street. I smiled. Right on time.

"Bella? Alice? What are you guys doing here?" Emmett called in a surprised voice.

"Oh, Hey Em." Bella said, smiling at her cousin. She was falling for it hook, line, and sinker. Alice 1, Bella 0. "We were just getting some late night snacks." She said, shrugging.

"Oh sweet. We were on a beer run."

I saw Edward roll his eyes, and I mentally cringed. It seemed like he knew what was going on. Jasper just looked slightly embarrassed about the whole situation.

"On a Wednesday?" Bella asked.

"You don't need an excuse to have a beer run on a Wednesday." Emmett said, a little too quickly. I frowned. We had gone over this multiple times. He was supposed to say that he was celebrating the fact that he had a month break from wrestling.

"Okay." Bella had a confused look on her face as she looked at me.

"So, Emmett, are you going to introduce us to your friends?" I asked, stepping up beside Bella. If we were going to pull this off, I needed to get the ball rolling.

"Oh yeah, you guys remember Jasper, and Edward?" He asked, pointed towards the two men standing beside him. "Guys, you remember my cousin Bella and her roommate Alice?"

Edward mumbled something that sounded a lot like a complaint, and Jasper just nodded his head. This wasn't going quite like I had expected it.

"Of course, it's nice to see you again Edward, Jasper." Bella said, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. A small smile played at her lips, and I mentally cheered.

"Lovely to see you again Jasper," I said, smiling as I offered my hand. He gave me a small smile as he took my extended hand. I couldn't help but giggle as he brought it to his lips.

"The pleasure is all mine." He said, with a slight southern drawl. As soon as his lips left my hand, he dropped it quickly, looking down. I frowned.

Well, on to plan b then.

"Hey, you guys want to come back to our place? Bella and I were just going to watch a movie and eat some junk food." I said, looking between Jasper and Emmett.

"What?" Bella said from beside me, surprise in her voice. I turned to see her brown eyes wide, staring at me. I just shrugged.

"Sure, that'd be fun." Emmett said, ignoring Bella's response. "What do you think guys?" He asked, turning to his friends. Edward just shrugged.

"Well, we still need to get some ice cream." I said, walking into the store. "B, what kind do you want?" She shot me a murderous glare before following me in.

"What are you doing?" She hissed as we walked back to the freezers. "I thought this was supposed to be a girls night?"

"Well, it would be rude not to invite them?" I said, saying it more as a question.

"This is something you planned with Emmett, isn't it?"

Damn. The girl knew me to well.

"Well, maybe. Come on Bella, please. I can really feel something there between Jasper and I. This really means a lot to me. Please?" I was practically begging now, giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

"I'm not going shopping with you for a _week_!" She said quietly, glaring at me again. If that was my punishment, then I'd gladly take it!

"Thanks B! You're the best!" I said, squeezing her around the waist. "Now let's get some ice cream."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(BPOV)

I couldn't believe I had let her talk me into this. That devious little pixie. In hindsight, I should have known that she would plan something like this, but I was too caught up in my self-pity party to really question her motives. She was Alice. I loved the girl to death, but she drove me crazy sometimes.

I glanced at her as we walked out of the 7-11, carton of ice cream in hand, and made our way to the guys. She was practically skipping she was so excited, and I found myself smiling despite myself.

At least one of us was happy.

"Lead the way ladies." Emmett said as we walked up to them.

"This way gentlemen," Alice happily chirped, "We only live a block away." She motioned for us to follow her as she gracefully walked down the sidewalk.

I rolled my eyes. I wonder how long it had taken her and Emmett to come up with this idea.

I glanced around at the others as we walked down the street. Emmett and Alice were engaged in a lively conversation, but I couldn't hear what it was about. Jasper kept glancing at them, alternating between glaring at Emmett and smiling at Alice. And Edward just looked amused.

"What's so funny?" I asked, slowing my pace to match his.

"How much time do you think they spent brainstorming this idea?" He chuckled, nodding towards Emmett and Alice.

"Probably all of Saturday afternoon, but I don't know for sure because I left for the library." Where I met up with you, I mentally added.

"Do you think we should eventually tell them that it might have been easier to just suggest that we all hang out?" A large grin spread across his face.

"Ah, so you weren't in on this?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No. I didn't know until about ten minutes ago, when I asked Emmett why we were going on a beer run on a Wednesday night. You didn't know about this either?"

"I found out about two minutes ago, when Alice suggested you all come over." I glanced over at Alice again, who was talking animatedly about something, arms flailing around her head. Jasper looked absorbed in whatever she was talking about.

"I think your friend Jasper has it bad for Alice." I said, nudging Edward with my elbow. Did I just elbow nudge him?

"I think you're right." He said, laughing quietly. "But then again, I knew that Friday night."

"Well aren't we just Mr. Observant then." I said, bumping him with my shoulder.

Did I just call him Mr. Observant? And did I just bump him with my shoulder? Oh my god, I was flirting with him. I could feel the blood start to pool in my cheeks as I realized that I was attempting to flirt. And then I immediately felt guilty. I had just broken up with Jake, and here I was flirting with another guy.

I could hear Edward talk to me again, but I was too lost in my own thoughts to pay attention to him.

"Bella?" He asked, breaking me from my trance by placing a hand on my arm.

"Hm…?" Was the only response I could come up with.

"Isn't this your apartment building?" He asked, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me to the right.

"Huh?" I asked, blinking. How on earth did he do that to me? This time I knew the blood was rushing to my cheeks.

"You alright? You kind of zoned out on me for a minute." He said, concern flashing across his features.

"Oh. No. I mean yes. I'm fine. Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind." I winced. I hoped that didn't sound as bad out loud as it did in my head.

"Okay, well, we better get inside before Alice has a fit." He said, glancing over to where she was standing, yelling at us to hurry up. "Or gets a noise violation."

And that's when it hit me. Edward was going to be in my apartment. With my cousin. And my best friend.

This was going to be embarrassing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Authors note, part 2)… So, I'm still in desperate need of a beta… I wrote a begging plea in my profile, but I wanted to put one here. I desperately want to be able to finish this story, but I think I'm at a point where I need help. I've got a few later chapters already written, but I'm getting paranoid about the plot, and the flow of the story, and the characterization (especially of our favorite little pixie)… If you're interested, please, please, please feel free to send me a message 

Thanks!


	8. Pictures

**AN: I know, I know… I'm a horrible person. A month and half between updates. Trust me I've tried, hard, to get this chapter out. It's undergone many rewrites, a few major overhauls, and an extreme case of writers block.**

**Standard Disclaimer applies (I don't own anything).**

(EPOV)

A million thoughts were going through my mind as I followed Bella into her apartment; what was I doing? Why did I care? What would Emmett say if he knew some of the thoughts that were going through my mind about his cousin?

Emmett.

It seemed that my best friend was going to be slightly problematic. He was extremely protective of Bella, as was evident in his behavior towards James, and had told me not to make a move on her.

Did I want to make a move on her? No. Yes. Hell, I didn't know.

I could hear Alice chattering away about something, Jasper hanging on her ever word. It was almost funny, except I knew I was acting the same way with Bella. I wanted to know everything about her, and I listened to her talk like I was a deaf man who had only just begun to hear.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" The question pulled me from my thoughts, and I turned my attention to Bella. She was looking between Emmett and me, her hand raised towards the kitchen.

"Sure Ella, you got anything alcoholic?" Emmett made his way towards the kitchen, making himself at home.

"Probably not, we're only 19. But help yourself to whatever you want." She laughed as she turned towards me, adding a threat over her shoulder, "just stay away from my lucky charms."

I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Her favorite cereal was lucky charms. It seemed fitting.

"I'd give you a tour, but I'm sure you've seen these apartments before." A light pink was creeping up to her cheeks, and I couldn't help but smile.

"None that were decorated as nicely as this one." I was impressed, to say the least, at the quality of the furnishings. The couch was black and leather, with cream and gold pillows and a crimson blanket draped over the back. A glass topped coffee table sat in the middle of the room, with books and magazines scattered across the surface.

The entertainment center was in the corner by the window, with a dozen picture frames lined across the top. I stepped closer, trying to get a closer look at the photos. Most of them were of Bella and Alice, probably taken during their last year in Forks.

While Bella was smiling in almost every picture, I could tell that she was uncomfortable being in front of the camera.

One picture stood out from the rest. It was a candid shot, taken when neither Alice nor Bella were paying attention to the camera. They were sitting on a beach, staring out at the ocean, Alice's head resting on Bella's shoulder. A genuine smile was spread across Bella's face, and Alice was laughing, her eyes squinted together. I immediately wanted to know what was so funny, so I could attempt to be the reason for that smile.

"That's a great picture, isn't it?" Alice said, walking up behind me. "It's one of my favorites."

I nodded in response. Hopefully she was tell me the story behind it.

"That was the day we graduated from high school. Our entire senior class went down to the beach to celebrate; we had a huge bonfire and everything. It was the last night we were all going to be together as a group."

"Sounds like a fun night." Alice just smiled.

"Oh it was. Right before this picture was taken, some of the boys in our class had decided to go skinny dipping in the Pacific Ocean. True, their decision was affected by alcohol, but it was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen." Alice was laughing at the memory, and I couldn't help but laugh with her.

"Guys will do stupid things to impress girls." It was true. I'd go skinny dipping in frigid waters if it made Bella smile like that.

"You want to see some more pictures?" A mischievous smile played across Alice's face, and I couldn't help but wonder if I should say no.

In the end, I merely nodded, unable to pass up the opportunity to learn more about Bella's past.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(BPOV)

It must be National Pick on Bella Day. Or at least that's how it felt.

Alice had brought out her old photo albums, which were filled with embarrassing pictures of me when I was going through my 'awkward' stage.

And then her and Emmett started on the stories.

"And then… there was this time…" Alice started, barely containing her laughter. "We were leaving the school parking lot, and this car stopped in front of us. We were stuck in a line of cars, and the guy in the car behind us, Tyler, came up and knocked on Bella's driver's side window. We were driving Bella's hideous truck, so she had to manually roll the window down, and she politely asked Tyler what he wanted. And get this; he wanted to ask her to the spring dance." She was unable to suppress it any longer, and was laughing loudly.

"It's not my fault Mr. Banner ran out of gas in the middle of the parking lot!" I said, my face turning bright red.

"Come on B… It was hilarious." Alice said between gasps.

"Oh, how about the time Bella broke her arm because she was trying to climb the tree outside my parents house, and she barely got three feet up it before falling?" Emmett chimed in.

"The branch broke!"

"Or how about that time her and Jake…" Alice started, before abruptly stopping.

"Don't even _think_ about finishing that sentence, Mary Alice." I threatened, glaring at her. The last thing I wanted was her bringing up Jake.

"Aw, come on Bells. I want to hear this story. You and Jake always managed to get into trouble with the chief. I'm surprised he didn't get arrested." Emmett said, throwing his arm around me.

"Hey Em, you remember that time we tried to flood your parents basement to make an indoor swimming pool?" Alice asked, trying to change the topic.

"Yeah, that was great Alice. Bella, why won't you want to talk about Jake?" Emmett said, turning to stare at me.

"Hey Emmett, weren't you going to go see that Rosalie girl?" Edward suddenly said, making a show of checking the time. "It's already 11:30. If it gets too much later it'll look bad."

"It's 11:30 already? Shit." Emmett said, jumping up from the couch. "I was supposed to go over there at 11:00. Shit." He was checking his phone now, walking towards the door. "Don't think this conversation is over Ella." He said, pointing at me before walking out the door.

"I'm sorry B…" Alice started, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Alice." I said, giving her a small smile. "And I'm sorry for using your full name."

"You mind filling us in on what that was about?" Edward asked, leaning back on the couch. "Apparently I just saved you from an uncomfortable conversation. Who's Jake?"

Well crap. Maybe I wasn't sorry for using Alice's first name.

"Oh, look at the time. Hey Jasper, you want to go for a walk?" Alice asked, jumping up from the couch. I glared at her again.

"Mary Alice Brandon…" I started, trying to pull her back down.

"Isabella Marie Swan…" she said back, pulling her arm away from me. Jasper was already standing beside her, looking down at Alice.

"You guys are avoiding my question." Edward said from his seat on the couch. I turned to glare at him.

"Don't wait up for us!" Alice called as she grabbed Jaspers arm and pulled him out the door.

I groaned. She was going to make me have this conversation with him. I turned to look at Edward, who was still looking at me. His expression caught me off guard; he looked curious, but that wasn't all. Another emotion was evident in his face, looking like a cross between annoyance and jealousy.

Yeah, right, like Edward would be jealous of anything that had to do with me.

"Are you going to tell me?" He asked, starting to get up.

"Jake is my ex-boyfriend." I said, throwing myself back onto the couch. This was not how I had envisioned this evening going.

'_What did you expect, for Edward to throw himself at you and declare his love for you?' _ My inner voice asked. Great, now I was talking to myself again.

"And why didn't you want to talk about him?"

"Because I just broke up with him." Might as well be truthful, there wasn't any point in lying.

"Was he the one you were talking about in the library the other day?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Of course he would remember that.

"Why did you break up with him?" He asked, sitting back down. His expression was once again curious, all traces of annoyance gone.

"Because I realized that I wasn't the girl that he wanted me to be. I couldn't be what he wanted me to be, and I couldn't bring myself to hurt him anymore then I already was."

"What girl did he want you to be?"

"He wanted me to move back to Forks, to marry him. I told him I wanted to travel, have a career, and he basically accused me of throwing everything away because of a stupid career." I felt a little silly, explaining all of this to Edward. He was still practically a stranger, and I didn't know a whole lot about him.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to travel, and have a career. He has no right to tell you that it's stupid." Edward said, running a hand through his messy hair. "Are you okay?" He looked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It hurts, yeah, because we were together for so long, but it also feels good. I know this sounds horrible, but I'm actually kind of relieved." I looked down, not wanting to meet his gaze.

"It doesn't sound horrible."

I looked up at him, smiling.

"Thanks. Alice said the same thing."

"Alice didn't like him." It was a statement, not a question, and it took me off guard.

"How could you tell?"

"If she would have liked him, she would have been a lot more sensitive to the nature of the breakup, and not left you alone. Emmett didn't like him either."

"No, she didn't particularly care for him. How did you know about Emmett though?"

"He told me a few days ago. He was telling us all about you, and mentioned you had a stupid boyfriend from back home." He shrugged, his voice light.

"Well, I'm glad Emmett was sharing all my personal information with you." I said, crossing my arms across my chest. That was annoying.

"He cares about you." Was all Edward said.

"Well, since you know so much about me, why don't you tell me something about yourself? It's my turn to play twenty questions now." I said, leaning back on the couch.

"Ask away."

"Where are you from?"

"I grew up in Chicago, but I moved to Eugene when I was a teenager."

"Why Southern Oregon?" I asked, using the same question on him as he had on me.

"Because it's small, more intimate, then other universities in the state. And tuition is lower. My parents told me to choose whatever school I wanted, but I didn't want to be that big of a financial burden on them. And honestly, I fell in love with the campus when I came on a tour. It really is quite beautiful."

"It is, isn't it? I didn't come on a tour, but when I came for early registration I completely fell in love with the campus. I had just finished taking my math placement test, and when walking down the stairs in front of the computer science building, the beauty just kind of hit me. I realized that this was where I wanted to come to school."

"That's a lot better of a reason then wanting to go as far away from home as you could." He said with a smile.

"I suppose. What's your favorite band?" I wanted to get a feel of his personality, and the best to do that was through music.

"I like a lot of bands, from a variety of different genres. I'm going through an indie phase right now though, so Modest Mouse, Brand New, bands like that."

"Oh, I love Brand New. Deja Entendu is my absolute favorite. It usually helps me calm down, especially when I'm driving." It made me smile, knowing I had something in common with Edward. "What's your favorite TV show?"

"House, MD. I know that sounds cliché, because I want to be a doctor, but it really is a good show."

"I know. Alice and I watch it every Monday. What's your favorite movie?"

"I don't have a favorite. There are too many movies out there to pick just one. I like most of the movies that come out just before Oscar season though; they're usually the best."

"Why do you want to be a doctor?"

"I want to be able to do something to help people. It's all great to make a ton of money, but what's the point if you're being completely selfish about it? I want to share something with the world; I want to help others who can't help themselves." His green eyes were sparkling with excitement. "The feeling you get, when you know you've done something good, it's the most amazing feeling in the world."

"What kind of doctor do you want to be?" Suddenly I wanted to know everything about him.

"I want to take care of kids. I'm not sure if I want to go into surgery or just be a pediatrician. I'll have a few years of medical school to figure that out."

"Why kids? It's so much harder when they're younger." I said, looking intently at him.

"Because kids are so innocent. Wouldn't it be hard to help an adult who is a thief, or a rapist? Kids need the most care, and I want to do what I can for them."

"You're an incredible person, Edward." I said, looking down again.

Trying to keep myself from staring at Edward, I shifted my gaze from the floor to the clock hanging above the TV. It was well past midnight.

"Won't your girlfriend be mad that you're staying so late at some random girls house?" I asked, trying to be discrete in asking if he had a girlfriend.

"No, she won't, because I don't have one. And you're hardly a random girl, Bella." He said, flashing me his perfectly crooked smile.

"How am I not random? I'm practically a stranger; you've only known me for a week." I said, trying not to focus on the smile. His smile had the ability to render me speechless.

"You're Isabella Swan from Forks, Washington. You're an undecided freshman, although you're leaning towards criminal justice, probably because your father is the chief of police in Forks. You spent most of your life living in Phoenix, so you hate rain and cold. You're nineteen years old, your best friend is Alice, and you are single. Anything I left out?" He was smiling again, and had somehow managed to slide closer to me on the couch.

This time I really was speechless. I stared at him, trying to focus enough to formulate words.

"No, I think that about covers it." I said, my face turning bright red.

"I have a good memory." He said, tapping his right index finger to his temple. "And as I said before, I wanted to get to know you."

"Yeah, you did." I said, still staring at him.

"Is there anything else you want to know about me?"

"I want to know everything." I said without thinking. My eyes went wide, and I knew that my face now closely resembled a lobster.

Crap. Did I really just say that out loud?

"It seems like we have a lot in common, Miss Swan." He said laughing as he leaned closer to me.

"Hmmm?" I said, unable to form a more coherent sentence with him so close.

"I want to know everything about you too."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(EPOV)

It seemed so natural for me to be sitting here talking to her, telling her things about myself that I had never told anyone else.

Most girls I had dated were only interested in the physical aspect of the relationship. I would be lying if I said I didn't mind, but at the same time, I always felt like something was missing.

And as I sat listening to how Bella had met Alice during one of her summers in Forks with her father, I found that missing piece.

Bella was someone I could talk to; a girl I could hold an intelligent and interesting conversation with. I wanted to know her thoughts, hear her dreams, and do everything in my power to make them come true.

And that scared the living daylights out of me.

First of all, I'd just met the girl. I'd only known her for a few days, and while it seemed like I'd known her forever, there was still a lot I _didn't_ know about her.

Second, Emmett would kill me. And I'm sure it would be painful. He had been livid with James after the incident at the party last week. If he responded that way to a complete stranger, I couldn't imagine how he would handle his best friend; especially after he told me how he felt about my past relationship experience.

I wasn't sure I was ready for this.

"Edward, are you alright?" Her voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I immediately looked into her eyes.

"No. I'm fine." The more I stared at her, the harder it was for me to stop myself from leaning forward. It would be so easy to kiss her right now, and I was extremely curious to know how her lips would feel against mine.

"You seem like you're mind is miles away." Her words startled me; I hadn't realized she was that observant.

I could feel my control slipping, and I found myself caring less and less about what Emmett would think of, or do to, me.

"I assure you, I'm right here, with you, on this couch." I leaned in a little closer, closing the gap between us slowly, savoring the moment. If I was about to kiss this girl, I wanted to do it right.

Of course, fate had other plans.

The buzzing of my phone against my leg caused me to jump back, and it was quickly followed by a vibrating on the coffee table.

I groaned, slipping my hand into my pocket to pull out my phone. Perfect timing. Leave it to Emmett to cockblock by text message. I pressed the button to view the message.

_E, where the f r u? Its 3 am. U better not be Ella's still._

How was it 3 am already? And why was Emmett already home? My phone buzzing in my hand told me I had another message, this time from Jasper.

_Ed Em's been callin every 2 mins. Alice and I can't keep stalling. He's gonna kick ur ass man. Get out of there._

I looked up at Bella, and then back down at my phone. If I knew Emmett, I probably had five minutes before he decided to come over and drag me out of here. And if he found out I was about to kiss her, well, I would probably be missing a few days of classes.

"Bella, I have to go." I didn't give any other explanation before walking out the door.

If I valued my life, not to mention my friendship with Emmett, I had to ensure that something like this never happened again.

I couldn't let myself get any closer with Bella Swan.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**AN pt dos: As I said earlier, I'm so so sorry this took so long to get out. I really don't want to give up on this story, but it's becoming difficult for me, especially knowing that I'm basically writing a story that has been done a million times, with the only difference being the location. I'm trying very hard to come up with something original, but I'm sadly coming up short.**

**Don't fear though; I really want to see this through to the end. I have a few later chapters written, and some ideas for later ones.**

**It also doesn't help that Alice and Jasper keep trying to make me write their own story :/ Too bad for them I'm not a very good multi tasker.**

**Again, so sorry for the extra long delay… and hopefully you guys will review and give me some motivation to force myself to write a little faster.**


	9. Just Don't Set Us Up Again

The weather matched my mood perfectly; the raindrops that slammed against the window, the wind that howled around the house, the lightning that broke angrily through the clouds.

I was angry, but I couldn't do anything about it. Admitting that I was angry would prove that I felt something for Edward, and I wasn't about to let that happen.

As far as I was concerned, Edward Masen was a jerk. A douche bag would be a more fitting term, but Alice seemed to have a problem with the word douche, so I wasn't allowed to use it in her presence.

"B, are you going to come out anytime soon?" Alice's voiced called through my door.

I had locked myself in my room all afternoon, refusing to deal with her curiosity, or her smugness. She was convinced that something was there between Edward and I.

And up until last night, I almost believed her.

The signs had all been there; he would run into me randomly on campus, he would stop to talk to me; he would be flirty and nice to me when Alice and I stopped by the house to visit with Emmett. And then last weekend happened.

I was sure he had been about to kiss me. And then the next moment he was muttering some excuse about how he had to go, and before I knew it, I was sitting on the couch alone, wondering what the hell had just happened.

I glared at my computer screen as Alice knocked on my door again.

"Come on B, what are you doing in there? You're awfully quiet."

"It's something that I like to call homework Al. You should try it sometime." I momentarily felt guilty about how snappy I sounded, but then I remembered that Alice was the whole reason I was in this situation.

"No need to bite my head off B, I didn't do anything." Alice said as she opened my door. She had an annoyed tone to her voice, which annoyed me more. She had no reason to be annoyed with me.

"No, you only tried to set me up with the world's biggest jerk. Of course, you did nothing at all." I still didn't look at her, choosing to continue to glare at my computer.

"Well, at least it got you complaining about something other then Jacob. I swear, that's all I've heard about the last few weeks. And for the record, I wasn't trying to set you up with him. I figured you could use a new friend." Although she was angry, I could hear the hurt in her voice.

"Alice, I dated Jake for two years. He was kind of a big deal. And I hardly talked about him around you. In case you forgot, you really didn't like the guy." I turned to face her, leaning back in my computer chair. I knew this fight was coming, and it was usually better to get it out sooner rather then later.

"You're right, I didn't like him. And I'm glad you broke up with him. But don't take out your anger towards that situation on me. I don't deserve it."

"It's not him that I'm angry about Alice. Remember last weekend? How you schemed and planned to get Edward and I to hang out? Yeah, that was a really great plan." I folded my arms across my chest. "How you used me as a way to hang out with Jasper?" I was still a little angry about that too; she had used me, and my relationship with Emmett to gain an in with Jasper.

"What happened B? Emmett freaked out because Edward still hadn't come home at three in the morning. He was on a war path. Did my text interrupt something?" I smile was slowly spreading across her face.

As much as I didn't want to tell her anything, and as much as I was annoyed with her, I couldn't help myself as the words came pouring out of my mouth.

"Ugh. That's the problem. Nothing happened! I swear, I thought he was about to kiss me, and then he gets some mysterious text message. Then he practically ran out the door. No explanation, just a mumbled 'I've got to go', and he was gone." I ran a hand through my hair in frustration.

"Oh B, that's fantastic! He almost kissed you?" She was practically jumping in excitement now.

"No, it's not fantastic. Nothing about it is fantastic! Mary Alice Brandon, you are not going to do anything about this, you hear me? There will be no scheming, no planning, no plotting. Nothing." I gave her my most serious look, hoping that by some grace of god she would actually listen to me this time.

"But…" The look on her face almost broke my resolve; she looked like a little girl who had just been told that Santa Claus wasn't real.

"No, Alice. If Edward wanted to do something, he would have done so by now. It's been a week, and he hasn't even said a word to me. Actually, anytime he sees me on campus, he practically runs in the other direction!"

The first time it had happened, on the Monday after that disastrous night, I had thought he had just been in a hurry to get to class. The second time, he looked at me, hesitated, and then turned and quickly walked the other direction. The third time was in the Student Union, and that was when I knew he was ignoring me.

I was waiting in line when I saw him sit down at the table with Alice and Emmett. They were soon joined by Jasper and an absolutely gorgeous blond who I had only seen once. He was laughing and joking with them until I walked up. Before I had even sat my tray down, he was already out of his seat, his food untouched on his tray. Without another word, he walked away, everyone staring at him in shock.

"I doubt he's avoiding you B…" Alice started, but I didn't let her finish.

"Alice, you were there on Wednesday. He had only been sitting down for a minute when I walked up. As soon as he saw me, he was gone. He's avoiding me." I stared her down, daring her to contradict me.

"Okay, so maybe that was a little strange. Maybe he has a reason for it?" She sounded almost hopeful.

"Or maybe he's just a douche bag."

I mentally laughed as she cringed.

"God, you know I hate that word." She shuddered a little. "Jasper says Edward has always been a little strange when it comes to girls. Maybe he just likes you and doesn't know how to go about it?"

"No. Alice, you're not going to be talking to Jasper about Me. Or Edward; actually, you're not going to talk about Edward and I in the same sentence. Ever. Do you understand?" In most areas of my life, I let Alice meddle. This time I was putting my foot down.

"But B…" She was whining now.

"No Alice. This time I'm putting my foot down. I came to college to get an education. I don't need stupid boys causing distractions. And I don't want you trying to set me up with anyone else, you got that?"

"Alright, alright. No more setting you up. Are you done being annoyed with me now?"

"I suppose." As long as she kept her promise, I wouldn't be annoyed with her again for awhile.

"Good. Now will you please come out of your self induced exile and watch a movie with me? I'm ridiculously bored."

I laughed as she gave me her best puppy dog face. There really wasn't much better then watching a movie with your best friend on a stormy afternoon, especially if you were upset about a stupid boy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

(EPOV)

The weather matched my mood perfectly. It was windy, wet, and gray.

I was miserable, and I couldn't do anything about it. Admitting that I was miserably would be admitting that I felt something for Bella, and I couldn't let that happen.

As far as I was concerned, Isabella Swan was off limits. Emmett would kill me, and I'm fairly certain it would be a slow and painful death. And as miserable as I was right now, at least I was alive.

Leaving her apartment last weekend had been one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do. At least it was until Wednesday. Ignoring her earlier in the week had been fairly easy. When I saw her on Monday, I was running late for class, so it was easy to just hurry past her on my way to the science building.

On Tuesday, it was a little more difficult. I saw her standing outside the Student Union, and the desire to go talk to her was almost unbearable. I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons, before deciding that not being beaten to death by Emmett far outweighed everything else. Walking away had been fairly simple, especially since I didn't have to see the look on her face.

Wednesday, however, was excruciating. Of course I had noticed her when she walked in, but I didn't realize that she would sit with us for lunch. Looking back, I should have figured that out, since Alice was sitting at our table as well. But as I was sitting there across from Rosalie, Emmett's new girlfriend, I was completely unprepared for her arrival. I was standing by the time he sat her tray down.

In my defense, my father had taught me to always stand when a lady approached the table. I had seen it for years during holidays and dinner events; my father would stand as my mom approached the table, sitting only once she had taken her seat.

Naturally, I was embarrassed by my involuntary reaction, and opted to just walk away. My biggest mistake was glancing at her as I walked past. Her face betrayed her emotions; hurt, anger, sadness. She just stared at me as I walked away, her mouth half open in shock.

The rest of the week I locked myself in my room, emerging only to go to class and to eat. I needed to figure out how to act around Bella, and I needed to do it quickly.

"Hey bro, you still in there?" Jaspers voice coming through my door broke me from my thoughts. Jasper had been coming by once a day to check up on me. Most of the time I ignored him; and while the gesture was nice; I didn't really feel like answering his questions. "You can't lock yourself in there forever you know."

"I'm working on some homework. You know, that thing professors assign to us so we can learn the material?" I sounded rude, but at this point, I didn't really care. Jasper was part of the reason I was in this mess. If he hadn't been pining after Alice, Emmett never would have made me go with him to Bella's that night.

"No need to be a dick." Jasper said, opening my door. "Don't take your lady troubles out on me Eddie. Not my fault you want the one girl you can't have."

I rolled my eyes. That was the annoying thing about Jasper; he had an uncanny ability to read people.

"It's your fault I'm in this situation to being with. If you and Alice hadn't have left me there alone with her, I wouldn't have almost kissed her." I was still mad at him for leaving me there with her alone. It was like leaving a child alone, unsupervised, with a cookie jar within reach.

"Dude, I knew it! Alice was saying she thought something might have happened between you too."

"Will you shut up! I'd prefer to keep all of my limbs attached to my body." I hissed, getting up to close my door. The last thing I wanted was for Emmett to overhear this conversation. He was fiercely protective of his cousin. "And nothing happened. Nothing will happen. The girl hates me, if you hadn't noticed."

After the lunch incident on Wednesday, Bella's attitude had changed towards me. Every time I saw her on campus, she glared at me before walking away from me. Thursday afternoon, I ran into her in the hallway in Taylor Hall, and she didn't even glance at me; walking right by me as if she didn't know me. On Friday, as soon as she saw me in the Student Union, she turned around and walked back out the door.

"Well, if you hadn't been such a dick at lunch on Wednesday, she might not hate you. You know, you could always go over there with me later when I go see Alice. She hates thunder storms, so I figured she could use someone to ease her fears." I could see the idea formulating in his mind.

"No. Not a chance. Nothing can happen between Bella and I. Ever. You got that?" No matter how much I wanted it to, it just couldn't. "If you value your life, you'll leave this alone." I turned to glare at him.

"Whatever bro," he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "If you want to be miserable, be my guest. Just don't take it out on me." He let out a chuckle as he walked out the door, muttering something that sounded oddly like 'pussy' under his breath.

I shook my head. He can call me a pussy all he wanted, but I'm sure he'd be acting the same way if it was Alice who was related to Emmett. No one messed with the guy who could lift the entire front end of a Buick by himself.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**Wow. I know. It's been a really really really long time. And I apologize. I could give you a million reasons why, but they'd just be excuses. I'm still trying to work out where I want this story going. But trust me, you'll know as soon as I know. **

**Hopefully it won't be another 4 months before the next update. But I make no promises.**

**Thanks to those of you who have added this to your favorites, or to your author alerts. It'd be awesome if you'd review too, tell me what you like, and what I can do better.**


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